Ground Zero
by Lynxia
Summary: The Charmed Metal Band gets into trouble after they gave a secret concert in the cybertronian Undergrounds. A fan fiction I wrote several years ago, but never finished.


**Transformers  
**Ground Zero  
Part 1

Footsteps echo through the hallway as metal meets metal, shadows become smaller as their reach the end of the road.  
"Come on, Swing! You are falling behind!"  
A pink colored Transformer tries to catch up with the others who run further down the hallway. She knows she is falling behind. The gap between her and the others becomes bigger and bigger with every nano-click that passes and she can't do a thing about it. Even if she tries to run any faster, it feels like she is slowing down even more.  
"Prime, Swing is not going to make it!" one of the Transformers yells out and looks over her shoulder to Swing, who stumbles forward, but regains her balance to continue running before she can even fall on the floor.  
The silver, black and golden plated Transformer who runs in front of the group throws a quick glance towards Swing and her optics narrow. She nods and says:" Nobody of our group falls behind. Keep on running, girls. Swing and I will join you shortly."  
The other three who run after her, nod in agreement and wish her good luck, before returning their attention to their escape. The one called Prime stops and waits for Swing to catch up with her. She quickly grabs the smaller Transformer's arm and pulls her along with her without saying a word. The look over her metallic face is serious and strong, like she isn't concerned about what follows their trail.  
Swing tries her best to keep up with her and says with gasps in between:" Thanks sis. I was afraid I had to do this alone."  
"Like I said many times before this happening and like I said to the others, Swing. Nobody stays behind and not even you. I really don't want to lose my little sister plus the best synthesizer player there is on whole Cybertron."  
A small smile appears on her face and she looks down to Swing who returns the smile. They continue running and manage to get the others in their visual.  
"Hey girls, Prime is gainin' on us and she is draggin' Swing with her."  
"Well, that took long enough," smirks the green plated Transformer who runs in the middle of the small group and slows down a bit. The other two follow her lead and look towards Swing and Prime.  
"Don't slow down! Keep running! They are not far behind and who knows where they are now! Go!" Prime yells to the others and grabs the arm of a red plated Transformer as she runs through the group who only wanted to let them catch up.  
"Why did they had to show up in this sector? The sources said they don't come here that often and suddenly --kapow! -- They are there with a full front assault team... I mean... What did we ever do to get them after our skid plates?"  
"Stop talking and keep running, Rivet. We will think about it when we reach our ship. Let's get out off this sector first, before it gets full with more Revolutionary Predacons and Decepticon agents who want to bust us femmes!"  
The small group continues down the hallway, all hoping they will reach the vehicle of their escape before they get caught. This has been going on ever since the Revolutionaries started to march up in the Underground levels of Cybertron and it has never been safe again. They had to run away in many occasions, but always managed to escape without loss.  
Prime lets go of Swing and the other as they run into a large hall which obviously became the end of the road.  
"Well, that's just prime…"she curses and throws a quick glance around to look for a way out. They can only go back or… The balustrade in front of them is the second option she can pick.  
She runs over to it and grabs the balustrade with both hands to bump into it as she skids to a stop. She looks down into the darkness of a deep tunnel and shakes her head. It is a long way down and this balcony platform makes them an easy target for snipers who can be hiding in those shadows. Swing and Rivet join her at her side and they both look down over the balustrade. The bottom isn't even visible. Prime straightens her back and looks around again, while Swing starts to make nervous sounds and Rivet sighs deeply in disappointment.  
"Prime!" the voice of Flare makes her snap out off her thoughts and she looks over her shoulder to the red Transformer, "I can hear them! They are really near and they are followin' our tracks. If we stay here, we will be turned into Energon cookies!"  
"Jeez, that's a nice thought," Rivet mutters and Prime walks up towards Flare so she stands in the middle of the group.  
"Okay, girls… We have two options," she says serious and makes optic-contact with everyone before continuing," Option number one; we all jump over that balustrade and hope we won't snap our legs, arms, neck and back into three pieces each as we finally reach the ground." As she points over to the balustrade, Swing quickly backs away from it with a terrifying look over her white metallic face, "option number two: We go back into that hallway and hope we will survive a battle against who knows how many agents with all the ammo we have… which isn't much if I may conclude that fact."  
The mood between every single one of the fembots becomes gloomier with every nano-click that passes and Rivet is the first one to break the silence:" I don't like both options…"  
Prime nods and walks over to Rivet as she says:" that is why we go for option number three."  
"Option three? And what might that be?"  
Prime sticks out her hand towards Rivet and nods for Rivet to hold out her arm. Rivet pulls a face and does what Prime asks her. She holds up her right arm and gently gets pushed back against the balustrade by a little nudge of Prime's left hand, while the other takes Rivet's wrist in her grasp.  
"What are you planning to do, sis?" Swing asks as she stands besides the two fembots. Rivet feels the balustrade of the balcony platform press in her back and she glares at Prime who grins up to her.  
"Yes…? Are you going to push me over to see how long the drop is?"  
"Very funny, Rivet," Prime laughs and suddenly pulls Rivet's arm up towards the darkness above them," I am going to throw you in a guess… so guess."  
Rivet grits her teeth in shocked surprise as Prime pushes a small button on her wrist. With a soft click a rope with a hook shoots out off her arm and disappears into the darkness way above their heads. Prime let's go of her arm and sets a few steps back, placing her hands on her sides as she looks up towards the trembling rope which keeps going higher and higher.  
The other fembots look to what is developing as Prime explains:" We can always go up if your hook gets a hold on something, Rivet. Let's hope it is not a Decepticon jet like last time."  
Rivet remains silent as she looks away from Prime with a disturbing look over her metallic face. She always has to be the one who comes up with ideas first, while it is her hook she just shot off. She is also older then Prime and it is still a riddle to her how this younger fembot was able to crown herself as the leader of this small group. It really annoys her if she thinks about it and it doesn't place Prime a good spot light for her taste.  
A soft clank echoes down towards the five fembots and Rivet pulls onto the rope as she snaps out off her thoughts to see if it is secure enough to go up without crashing down again.  
"Secure…"  
"Good," Prime nods and looks over to the blue fembot who has kept herself on the background ever since they tried to escape," you go first, Dicey."  
The fembot nods and walks over to Rivet who looks down at her with a very serious look. Dicey lowers her head a bit as she stands in front of Rivet and holds her arms up so that Rivet can get a hold around her waist. The both remain silent as they hold on to each other, not looking pleased about the situation they are in. Rivet tugs on the rope which is attached to her arm one more time, before she pushes the earlier button and slowly she gets lifted off from the ground as the rope rolls itself up in the arm compartment.  
"Brace for impact!!"  
Prime and the others look up when they hear Flare's yelling and quickly they understand what she is meaning. An explosion blinds the group and the power of it rips the barred balustrade out off the metal floor and flings it to the other side of the gab. It hits the wall with a loud slam and then tumbles down into the darkness below.  
As the black smoke clears from the balcony and dust falls down at the floor, none of the fembots are in sight. Only a soft groaning hints that these female robots are still functional.  
"Prime, I'm afraid… we've a nasty situation here…" the groaning voice of Flare sounds from under the edge of the balcony.  
Above the deep darkness of the gap, two of the fembots hang onto each other as their lives depend on it. As tight as she can, Flare holds onto the legs of her younger sister she calls Prime, who also literally hangs onto the edge of life. In this case the balcony.  
"Shush, Flare. We have been in this type of situation before… Where is Swing?" Prime looks around to find anything which presents pink, but everything looks grim. She narrows her optics a she looks up and says:" climb up, Flare. We have to get out off here…"  
"Have you lost some gyros in that blast? Did you see what type of ammo they are shootin' at us? I sure did! I rather let go then to face those ugly Decepticons!"  
"Flare… I want to go up to face freedom, not a black hole. Now climb up," says Prime more serious then ever and the look she throws down at her sister is enough to make her start moving.  
"Alright, alright… Keep your pants on. I'm goin', I'm goin'…" the red fembot mutters and carefully starts to climb up, hoping that Prime won't lose her grip on the edge. This one looks up, tilting her head to the side as Flare places a hand on top of her so she is able to place her foot on Prime's shoulder. Prime hopes that her other three sisters are alright and still functional, because the explosion was tremendously.  
"Alright, Prime… Wanna put your hands up for me?" Flare grins as she sits on the edge of the balcony and grabs for Prime's wrists to pull her up.  
"That's not funny, Flare… Really, it isn't… We need to find the others…" she mutters and just when she places her knees on solid ground, shooting starts from the other side of the balcony. They quickly lay down, hoping the pieces of the ceiling and walls spread across the platform will bounce the shots off.  
"Prime! Flare! Are you two okay?!"  
The two fembots stays where they are and looks towards each other. They heard Swing's voice, but she is nowhere in sight. Prime quickly rolls onto her back, holding Flare's hand, both hoping they will survive this.  
"Swing? Where are you?" Prime's voice is hard to hear as the shooting continues, but she gets an answer as she sees three figures come down from the darkness above. Rivet still holds Dicey with her free arm and Swing hangs around her neck. All look in good shape and with no damage," they are okay…"  
"Dandy! Now I hope Rivet has a good plan to get us out off here as well, because I am gettin' tired of lyin' around here! I wish I had my gun…"  
"Gun…?" Prime slowly blinks with her optics as she stares up towards her three sisters who are in safety. As she thinks, she doesn't notice that the shooting stopped and that Flare slowly sits up to check what is going on," Flare, you are right. We need a gun to get out off here."  
"Of course I am right! And I am really right, because the Decepticons decided to come a bit closer so they can go solo on us… You have a gun with ya?" Flare asks with a surprised look over her metallic face and sighs when she sees her sister shaking her head.  
"Not me… But someone else does…"Prime whispers as she keeps staring towards Rivet, Swing and… Dicey. She slowly sits up and starts to yell:" Dicey! Transform!"  
Way above their heads, the three sisters all suddenly look surprised and shocked. Rivet grits her teeth as she glares down at her younger sister and then looks at Dicey, the blue fembot she is holding in her grasp.  
"Don't you even think about it, Dicey," she almost hisses and Dicey looks back down towards Prime," its suicide."  
"Dicey! Transform!"  
Flare grabs for Prime's shoulders and asks with a high voice:" Have you gone glitch nuts?! That's too dangerous, Prime!"  
Prime doesn't give the impression she is listening and yells again:" Dicey! Please, transform!"  
A silence remains… Even the Decepticons don't make any sounds and the always cheery Swing doesn't dare to say a word. It is all up to the small blue fembot way up there above the platform.  
Dicey slowly looks up to Rivet and makes a few bleeping sounds, before she releases her grip on her older sister to fall down towards the balcony.  
"Dicey, no!" Rivet screams and tries to grab her, Swing screaming in her speakers as they dangle there. Rivet isn't able to grab her sister and has to watch her fall," damn you, Durham Prime!"  
Prime, on the other hand, doesn't look as desperate and angry as Rivet and almost smiles: "well done, Dicey… Now transform!"  
Dicey twirls around as she falls and the Decepticons open fire as they see something blue come from the darkness above. Prime leaps up; pulling herself away from Flare's grasping hands and sees Dicey transform into a blue blaster gun. She jumps up on her feet and runs towards Dicey's direction to catch her.  
Flare watches with wide open optics. How could she forget that one of her younger sister is able to transform into a weapon? She sees Prime roll over the floor to take cover again and how she takes aim at the Decepticons with Dicey. As she opens fire, Flare turns her attention towards Rivet and Swing, but to her biggest surprise yet, they are both out off sight and gone. Flare shakes her head as she thinks about how pissed off Rivet will be at Prime. Mostly Rivet doesn't curse, she only glares and turns away. But now, she even cursed with Swing hanging around her neck; damning Prime for the idea she had to safe herself and the rest.  
"Prime, how are you holdin' up?"  
Prime keeps shooting, not looking proud of herself and what she had to do to find a way to get away from the menace safely. She knew it was dangerous to summon Dicey that way. If she didn't catch her, she might have fallen into the gab and would have been lost forever. Dicey always has been the obeying fembot of the group. Ask her something to do and she will do it with no doubt. Rivet mostly makes disadvantage of that and Prime… she only does it when it is really needed like now.  
"Slag it, Flare... Stop staring at her."  
Flare snaps out off her thinking as she hears Rivet's angry voice and turns around to see her hanging there. Her optics are narrowed, her arms crossed over her chest as she hangs there upside down. She was able to attach the hook and rope to her belt so she can use both hands to help the others.  
"That was fast, sis."  
"It's not far… Now come on, before my mechfluid comes out off my nose."  
Flare nods and takes Rivet's hands, asking:" what about Prime and Dicey?"  
"I hope Durham gets demolished and that I will be able to pick Dicey up unharmed once I tossed you up the roof. Now hold on and stop calling her Prime, slag it!" Rivet says loud and the rope starts to roll itself up to pull them up into the darkness to get away.  
"Thank you very much, Rivet…" Prime whispers and continues shooting. She heard what the oldest sister said, but she is used to it and it won't claim anymore of the attention she needs right now. Her other sisters nicknamed her Prime, like the great Autobot leader Optimus Prime. Because they look up to her, they gave her that name and her real name became forgotten… only not for Rivet who refuses to use the nickname. She still calls her Durham and only used Prime when she is angry.  
"Prime…"  
She quickly looks up when she hears a strange, but still familiar voice and peeks over her hiding place to see a Decepticon standing very close by her. She quickly re-aims Dicey towards him and stays low.  
"Slag it, Thundercracker… Get out off my sight and let us go."  
The blue and white plated Decepticon jet looks towards her over his shoulder, his weapon aimed at her forehead, but not showing any intentions to shoot at her. He shakes his head and says:" I have let you go too many times, Durham Prime and my brothers start to get air of what is going on. Even Megatron starts to wonder…"  
"It is over, Thundercracker. There is nothing going on between us or whom so ever," Prime says and heightens the gun to also aim for his head," you might have saved my life a few times, but I know where I stand. Now go and leave me and my sisters alone…"  
Thundercracker looks away from her towards the other Decepticons and remains silent. Prime lowers herself back behind her hiding place and takes Dicey in both hands, wondering what Thundercracker will do. He can not be trusted when among his brothers and comrades and there is no way of telling that he will let her go. She waits for a moment and then slowly pushes herself a bit up to take a look at the Decepticons. Thundercracker is nowhere in sight, still the others came a bit closer, shouting to each other to take some actions instead of hanging around.  
"There is no sign of them. It seems that they have escaped."  
Prime pulls her shoulders a bit up when she hears Thundercracker's voice over the balcony, slightly surprised about the fact that he is letting her go again.  
"They escaped again?"  
"I am starting to get a system breakdown because of those slaggin fembots!"  
"Well, what's the use of doing nothing here then? Let's head back to the base."  
Prime watches them go into the hallway and when they disappear around the corner, she slowly stands up to stare towards the opening. How many times has it been that she was able to escape thanks to the enemy? She only thanked him twice and it always ended with an argument. She is an Autobot and he… Well, he is a Decepticon. She can't do a thing about that and she won't even dare to try it. She snaps out off her staring as she notices a movement in the hallway and quickly aims Dicey to it, ready to shoot if it a sign of danger. But as quickly as she aimed Dicey, the quickly she lowers the gun when she sees it is Thundercracker. She sighs softly, knowing they won't say a word to each other and smiles slightly. He nods once and then turns around to walk back into the hallway to leave her alone, as she asked him to. Prime shakes her head and rubs over her cheek with her free hand, wanting to enjoy the freedom she has gotten. But she won't get a chance for it.  
"I see you are in one piece."  
The low voice behind her gives her the shivers and Prime quickly turns around to see her oldest sister hanging there. The looks over her metallic face doesn't give her any hint about Rivet feels and Prime straightens her back to hide what she is thinking now. How long has she been hanging there? Long enough to see what happened between her and Thundercracker? She takes another look at Rivet's face, but truly nothing shows.  
Rivet looks over to the gun in Prime's hand and asks:" Tell me that Dicey is okay or you are in for something."  
"She is fine…"  
"Good. Now come on, the others are waiting for the both of you, although it surprises me they want to see you too as well… After what you did with Dicey," Rivet mutters and takes Prime in her arms to get her away from the rubble and the balcony. As they move up into the darkness above the platform, Prime presses Dicey against her chest to hold her tight. Of course they want to see them both. Why else do people call it sister-love?  
Prime's face clears up when she can finally see the stars which roam around Cybertron and smiles even wider when she hears Swing.  
"They are okay! Flare, they are okay!"  
Above them, Flare and Swing looks down the edge towards their sisters and Swing starts to clap in her hands of excitement. Rivet is the first one to the touch solid ground as Flare helps her up. Swing quickly grabs for Prime's wrists and grabs hold onto her to give her a tight hug. Prime smiles down at her younger sister and hugs her back, laughing softly. Rivet shakes her head and attaches the hook compartment back onto her arm as Flare walks past her to greet Prime in a more mature way.  
"That's what I call nifty shootin', sis!"  
Prime nods to Flare with a smile across her lips and she lowers her gaze to the gun she is holder. She slightly lifts her arm up and unwraps her fingers from the holster.  
"You did a good job, Dicey… Transform."  
The gun leaps out off her hand and transforms back into Dicey, who lands softly onto her feet. Swing lets go of Prime with a giggle and rushes over to the blue plated fembot to hug her as well, followed by Flare. Rivet stays where she is with her arms crossed over her chest plate. She looks over to Prime and when their optics make contact, it is Prime who suddenly looks nervous.  
"Well then..." Prime says as she tries to break the ice," we all made it and I have to admit… it was one heck of a show we gave down there."  
Only Rivet is not the one who manages to laugh and she lowers her arms to say something when the five fembots suddenly get blinded by bright headlights.  
"Nobody move! You are all under arrest for trespassing through the Underground levels without permission."  
"Oh boy…This is a dandy way to end the show," Flare mutters as she lifts up a hand to cover her eyes from the lights. It seems that someone found out about their secret concert.

**To be continued**


End file.
